


ROI

by KNSkns



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-19 05:43:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22639915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KNSkns/pseuds/KNSkns
Summary: The transition from prisoner to shipmate wasn't easy, and Captain Lorca didn't exactly make things better. Consent, coercion, manipulation, and everything in between.
Relationships: Michael Burnham/Ash Tyler | Voq
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27





	ROI

**Author's Note:**

> Originally created in 2019.

ROI: 1. Financial term: Return of Investment; 2. Data term: Release of Information.

I was disappearing in plain sight 

Heaven help me, I need to make it right – 

You want a revelation, you want to get it right, 

But that's a conversation I just can't have tonight – 

~ Florence and the Machine, from _No Light, No Light_

Michael isn't naive or delusional; she knows a prison – any prison – is a dangerous place. Still, when she walks out of a restroom on the first day of her incarceration, it's disturbing to find fellow inmates waiting for her. Two men on her right, three on her left, and no one else in the corridor.

Maybe one of them will kill her. It's not something that's overly concerning. Still, she has no intention of making things easy for them.

Two rib fractures and a sprained wrist later, she's starting to reevaluate the situation that is her life now. She owes a debt and she'll pay it the rest of her life, but she's not going to let herself become a target for any prisoner with a problem.

This is only day one.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

“What did you find?” Pike asked.

Nhan circled around his desk to hand him a PADD. “It's hard to believe she's Spock's sister.”

“Meaning. . . ?” Pike encouraged.

Nhan hesitated, shrugged slightly. “She's not a scientist who can fight, she's a fighter with great science skills.”

He laughed. Nhan was suspicious of everyone.”I don't know – she managed to save my ass out there today.”

“And I'm glad for that, truly,” the dark haired woman agreed. “But don't be deceived. See for yourself.” She tapped on the screen and a video clip started.

Pike watched the screen. “What am I looking at?”

“I reached out to a friend or two. This is from the third week into Burnham's six-odd months she served,” the Security Chief explained. “Watch her facial expression.”

He frowned at the screen, watched as a lone figure emerged in an empty corridor. The figure stopped in the center of the hall, glanced over her shoulder before taking two careful steps back. Two people showed up in the frame, blocking the figure's retreat; after a moment an additional two people appeared before her. As a group they advanced on the original figure.

“I'm not sure I want to see this,” Pike muttered.

“You do,” Nhan assured him.

So he watched carefully, but still must have missed something: one moment things were moving slowly on the screen, but the next things were moving so quickly that it was if the vid had been set to fast-forward.

The original lone figure was the only one left standing.

“Holy hell.” He glanced up at Nhan. “What just happened?”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “I'm not sure what to make of her, either. In the twenty-four odd weeks of her incarceration, there are at least seventeen fully documented altercations at three separate facilities – none of which is she held as the instigating party.”

Pike looked at her askance. “That's almost an incident per week.”

“And she never filed one complaint or gave up the name of one person who attacked her,” Nhan added. “It makes for one very complicated package. The ruthless fighter in that vid doesn't match the team player who helped rescue survivors from the _Hiawatha._ Not to mention, there was definitely something off between her and Captain Lorca.”

“Such as?”

Again Nhan shook her head. “Can't be certain,” she answered, frustration coloring her tone. “No one will tell me a damn thing. I haven't been able to access the logs of the Security Chief when Lorca first brought her aboard. Bringing her in couldn't have been a popular decision. But when I ask, people close their mouths so fast their teeth snap.”

“So she's important to them now,” Pike smiled.

“I'd wager it's more than that.” She took the PADD back from him. “No one will say so much as a word against her, at least not to me. Nothing. When I threw out some suggestions, just to get a reaction. . .” She shook her head. “One ensign actually told me to watch my mouth. It's not just closing ranks or a crew's loyalty. I'd be very careful how you treat her in front of others. They chose her over their last captain.”

“You worry too much,” he told her, smiling. “Keep working to get the story with Lorca.”

“And you be careful.” She gave him a small smile. “Or I'll tell Number One about your stunt at the asteroid.”

/////////

It's the morning of Michael's third day aboard _Discovery_ , and there's going to be trouble. Again.

She'd anticipated the crew would have difficulty accepting her legitimate presence. She'd resolved to demonstrate through example that she could be trusted and wasn't dangerous as Seru claimed. It might take time, but eventually they'd realize she has something to contribute to the larger mission. No one is more committed to ending the war than she is.

She hadn't anticipated the animosity would be so high as to manifest itself as physical violence.

Last night it was a pair of young ensigns as she returned to her quarters. Apparently today it's going to be someone else in the mess hall after her morning run. And with an audience.

This is not good for unit cohesion.

This needs to stop before someone becomes seriously harmed. She knows she'll be held fully accountable if that happens.

She keeps her steps even, unhurried as she walks towards the replicators. The absolute silence, the unblinking eyes she ignores. Hands open and loose at her sides, refuses to look over her shoulder.

A chair scrapes across the floor, almost concealing the fall of footsteps rapidly coming up behind her. Just as the replicator dings, she turns, catching a fist to the ribs rather than the kidneys.

This time it's a yeoman and a junior grade lieutenant. Human male, human female. Even if he doesn't know better, the woman should – she's the lieutenant.

Michael hopes they're better at their jobs than they are at sparring. They're both on the ground before the replicator can repeat its completion notice.

“Yield,” she demands of them.

The young man raises his hands.

“To you? No,” the lieutenant snaps, starting to climb to her feet.

She swipes the lieutenant's legs out from beneath her, sending the woman sprawling.

“Yield,” she tells the woman again.

The woman glares but raises her hands

Michael turns to rake her eyes over the audience. “No more,” she announces fiercely, making her voice carry to the edges of the hall. “I am not the enemy. You will not treat me as such.”

“What the hell is going on here?”

Captain Lorca has appeared with Landry and a handful of security.

This isn't good for unit cohesion, either.

Quickly she turns, holds out her hands to the lieutenant and yeoman. They accept her offer, clasp her hands and allow her to pull them up. “Nothing wrong here, sir,” she assures Lorca.

The captain slowly walks towards her, scowling. She falls into a parade rest, but meets his gaze squarely. His eyes flicker to the two people behind her.

“Back to work,” Lorca orders the room in general. “Burnham – ten minutes, my ready room.”

“Sir,” she nods, smartly pivots and disappears into the dispersing crowd.

///////

Even as a small child, Nhan knew how to be absolutely still to get information that otherwise wouldn't be available to her. _Silence_ and _Shadow_ were the nicknames her father gave her. It's a skill that served her well, both then and now.

The crew of _Discovery_ is the most paranoid bunch of scientists she's ever run across. They don't just fall quiet whenever she walks into a room –that's a normal response of caution towards an unknown. No, what's happened four times now: she enters an area, all verbal communication stops dead, and at least one person completely leaves off whatever they're doing to turn and fully monitor her. The person may or may not be cold and openly suspicious – but even if her chaperon smiles and makes small talk, nothing substantial is said and she's all but put in a corner and told not to touch anything.

These behaviors are not typical.

The entire crew has been on the front lines for a long time. They've lost battles and shipmates. But what situations have they endured that they should be so suspicious of one of their own?

She's in Engineering now with two female scientists, specialists both, one shorter and dark haired and one significantly taller and blond. No one else is close enough to hear their conversation, so Nhan just comes right out and asks about their behavior.

The blond had been the designated watcher, but at Nhan's questions, the shorter woman promptly logs off her station to turn and stand shoulder to shoulder with her workmate. “Nothing happened, sir – we just want you to have a good opinion of us.”

“That might have been more convincing if you hadn't been glaring when you said it,” Nhan replies, smiling to take the bite out of her words.

The taller woman smiles, her companion doesn't.

Interesting. Now Nhan knows something's going on. If pleasantries won't get her anywhere, maybe anger will make them talk. “So, you guys got the jailbird. Your crew is one of the top in Starfleet – you must have loved getting stuck with the only mutineer.”

Even the formal politeness disappears.

“With respect, sir – you don't know what you're talking about,” the dark haired Specialist warns.

“Oh, come on,” Nhan teases. “You couldn't have been happy when Captain Lorca brought her in. What was with them, anyway? Were they a couple?”

“No,” both say immediately, with varying emphasis.

So there is a story here, but maybe not the one she'd anticipated.

“It's very disrespectful of you to say things like that, sir,” the blond admonishes. “Burnham protected us from Lorca – ”

“Saronni,” the shorter Specialist warns.

“Well, she did,” the blond returns. “And it's not okay for some transplant to show up and start making trouble.”

“I'm not looking for trouble,” Nhan reassures them, and it's true. “I only want to know who everyone is so I can keep things safe.”

“We don't need you to keep us safe,” the blond assures her.

“Specialist Saronni.”

Nhan turns towards the newcomer. Speak of the devil. . .

Burnham walks the last two steps down and crosses over to them. “Commander Nhan is our new head of Security. We do need her to help us stay safe.”

The pair of Specialists glance at each other, then back to Burnham.

“But she's not one of us,” Saronni mutters very softly.

Burnham adjusts her stance just enough to block Nhan's view. “She's with us now. We can't keep losing people without filling posts. The next time we run into trouble – and you know we will – she could make the difference between staying lost and coming home.”

“But she was asking about you,” the shorter woman protests, her voice barely above a whisper. “You can't possibly be vouching for her.”

Burnham actually relaxes a little. “Captain Pike brought her over from the _Enterprise._ He vouches for her. That has to be enough.”

Again the women exchange glances.

“It's her job to be curious.” Briefly Burnham looks at Nhan and nods. “Answer all her questions to the best of your abilities.”

The pair reluctantly nod and murmur agreement.

“Thank you,” Burnham says. “I'm looking for Stamets. Is he in the greenhouse?”

After Burnham is gone, Nhan turns back to the women. “So, she seems intense.”

And the pair almost openly scoff.

///////////

Tilly has no idea why there's so much tension between Pike and Tyler, but there definitely is. Alot. And it sucks, because she likes them both.

She's also feeling really grateful to them for coming to get her out of the Mycelial Network. Not that she'd needed saving, per se, but neither of them left her and it's the thought that counts.

But they totally can't let Stamets make the rescue plans anymore. Jamming _Discovery_ half in, half out of the Network was a very bad idea. Now things are spontaneously breaking down and shorting out all over the damn place.

Which is why she and Michael and Pike and Tyler are all stuck in the 'lift and have been for over a half hour. Michael's been wrist deep in the door access panel just as long as she's been trying to jury-rig wires in the baseboard panel. The guys, on the other hand, have been trading passive aggressive (moving towards openly aggressive) comments. It's kinda amusing to listen to, but she can tell Michael's starting to get annoyed. And the last time Michael got annoyed with a captain, he ended up dead. Of course, Lorca'd had it coming (the rat bastard.)

“Maybe you should take a moment before you say anything else,” Pike tells Tyler.

“No need, sir – you've made your position crystal clear,” Tyler growls back.

Tilly catches Michael's eye. (Gods, the woman is super scary when she's annoyed.) “This isn't working. Let's just do site-to-site transports and leave this for Engineering.”

Michael frowns. “Reports from all over the ship indicate system-wide glitches. We shouldn't use the energy when it might be needed for primary functions.”

The guys' comments are getting sharp. Suddenly Tilly doesn't care what their issues are, they can go to therapy like everyone else. “It can't possibly be that much energy. I watched Lorca do it with you practically every night.”

Silence.

Uh-oh. She shouldn't have said that. She watches Michael blink very slowly.

“Say that again,” Tyler says, right as Pike instructs, “Run that statement one more time.”

Tilly puts on her best blank face. “What? Huh?” Deny, deny, deny. Michael might kill her while she's sleeping.

:”Is she serious?” Tyler asks Michael.

“What was Lorca doing?” Pike adds.

Michael keeps working in the panel. “Nothing I couldn't handle, Captain.” Emotion is nowhere in her voice.

“Michael,” Tyler snaps.

“Tilly,” Michael prompts.

“I was just kidding!” Tilly says quickly. “It wasn't, like, every night.” Michael glares at her and she ducks her head.

Tyler bites off a curse and retreats to the far corner.

“We're going to discuss this later, Commander,” Pike tells her evenly.

Tilly watches Michael's face empty. The woman looks over her shoulder and states, “That's not necessary, sir. Captain Lorca is dead and the matter is closed.”

“Hopefully because you killed him,” Tyler says darkly.

Tilly is so happy Michael gives Tyler the look instead of her. The two briefly exchange glares until Tyler shakes his head, giving her the this-isn't-over shrug.

“I'll take that into consideration,” Pike says, obviously undeterred.

Oh shit – now Michael is giving Pike her careful face. They just got this captain and he's already on her bad side. Briefly she lays a hand on Michael's leg.

“We have more important issues, sir,” Michael says mildly. “And I'll thank both of you – all three of you – to consider this matter closed.”

Silence.

Tilly really wishes the guys were snipping at each other again.

/////

Ash figures both women expected he'd show up that evening after Tilly's announcement in the 'lift. Michael's even still in uniform. “Hey Tilly – can I have a minute with Michael?”

Tilly looks between them. “No, that's not a good idea.”

“Tilly,” Michael warns.

“It's a bad idea!” Tilly insists. “The last time you two had a fight, he tried to kill you and you beamed him into space.”

“Thanks for the recap,” he tells the redhead.

“What's the rule, Tilly?” Michael asks.

Tilly ducks her head. “Things that happen in timeloops or other universes don't count.”

He can't help but smile. “That's a good rule.”

“It simplifies things,” Michael agrees wryly. “Go on, Tilly.”

Tilly gives them both a dubious look. “Ten minutes.”

“Michael will let you know when we're done,” he corrects as she walks past him.

Tilly turns once she's in the corridor. “I don't think that's – ”

Michael says, “Computer, close doors and engage privacy protocol.”

From the other side of the doors Tilly cries, “No fair!”

He has to grin. Suddenly it feels like it had before everything went to hell. “She hasn't changed.”

“Not very much,” Michael agrees. “Please, sit. Would you like something to drink?”

There's no way he's going to let her hide behind formality. “Please don't treat me like I'm a stranger.”

She rolls her eyes and sits down on the bed. “Don't do this, Ash. Tilly has an odd sense of humor. She didn't mean it the way it sounded.”

He starts to sit next to her, but she tenses up so fast that he drops onto Tilly's bed instead. “So tell me what she meant.” His heart sinks when Michael's expression turns carefully blank. “I guess it's true, then.”

“No,” she tells him. “Stop trying to make something out of nothing.”

“Well, I think it is something, or else you wouldn't hesitate to give me a straight answer.” He pauses, drops his voice. “Tell me.”

Michael holds out for a long moment, but when he won't back down, she shrugs and blinks. “It's not what you're thinking. Lorca was a master manipulator and a liar – he betrayed all of us. But it's not that simple and you know it. He got you out of enemy hands and me out of prison. We both owed him.”

Oh no. No. He takes a deep breath, looks up at the ceiling. “Michael, please just – ”

“Don't use that voice with me,” she interrupts. “You're not the head of Security and you don't outrank me.”

“No, I'm just a guy who gives a damn about you,” he returns swiftly.

“But you're not listening,” she snaps back. “Don't you think I could have stopped him if something was happening? When did you lose your trust in me?”

He shook his head. “You know that's not it.” When she didn't continue, he reminded her of something. “I remember very clearly asking you at least twice about sensor ghosts in these very quarters. It was site-to-site transports, wasn't it? And he purged the logs and destroyed as much evidence as he could.”

She looks at him askance. “Evidence implies that there was a crime. There wasn't. You know as well as I do that Lorca refused to follow a routine schedule. He wanted the crew to be off-balance, wanted them to never know where he might appear.”

Ash locks eyes with her. “And what did he want from you?” Because he remembers Lorca's words, _Come back with her in one piece, or don't come back at all._ And he remembers how Michael had all but shamed Lorca into allowing her to take the mission to set scanners on the Klingon Sarcophagus ship, because Lorca'd claimed it was “too dangerous” for her to go.

“To talk, mostly,” Michael says. “And sometimes just my presence.”

“So he never laid a hand on you, never even tried.”

She hesitates, drops her eyes down and away.

“Son of a bitch.” This is unbearable. How the hell had he missed it. “Why didn't you say anything? I would have believed you.” He would have put a stop to it by any means necessary, without hesitation.

“Ash, I swear, there was nothing to tell,” she says softly.

But she doesn't look at him when she answers.

///////

“Yes, Burnham, come in,” Pike tells the woman lingering at the doors of his ready room. “Please, sit down. Drink?” He smiles, trying to keep things light.

Of course she sees right through him. “No, thank you, sir,” she says politely as she drops into one of the more comfortable chairs.

She's Spock's sister. Really, he should've known this wouldn't be easy. Casually he pours himself a drink before sitting down in the chair not-quite-beside her. “I wanted to follow up on some of the things mentioned during our lovely group activity in the 'lift.”

Burnham's carefully blank expression tells him she already guessed why he'd called her in, probably before she even got here. “As I said before, sir, there's no reason to entertain this subject.”

It's going to be a short conversation if she refuses to talk. Time to switch tactics. “You were the First Officer aboard the _Shenzhou._ I bet you remember that every incoming message to the bridge gets recorded.”

She nods. “Of course.”

“For security purposes, all the recordings were backed up on off-site locations during the war.”

Again she nods. “Yes.”

He sets down his glass, picks up a PADD off the table. “What most people don't know is that the backup files were copied an additional time, just in case things went really wrong,” he tells her. He taps on the screen before handing it to her. “Which is where Commander Nhan found this.”

Burnham mutely watches the very odd communication of Seru, Lorca, and herself. _I'm where I need to be, Seru. This is my place._ Her eyes shift back to him. “This is classified, sir.”

No kidding. He's not even sure he wants to know the background story of this very disturbing communication. “Yes, I was informed of that and I'm taking it up with Starfleet,” he assures her. “I just need you to explain one thing: why does Lorca tell Seru that the reason this crew doesn't die is because you chose to stay 'by his side?'”

Because if Lorca was assaulting an officer or manipulating her into compliance – that's not classified, protected, or any other excuse to allow everything to be swept under the rug. And Burnham's carefully blank expression on the communication screams _involuntary._

She's quiet so long that Pike starts to think she just isn't going to say anything at all.

“Respectfully, sir – classified means no talking. About anything.” she says finally.

Such a careful answer, neither yes nor no. So very much like things Spock has said over the years. Did they learn that from Sarek or his wife? “You know what else Nhan found? Two Security vids of members of this crew attacking you when you first arrived.”

“The crew were justifiably concerned with the presence of a convicted mutineer,” she says slowly, carefully.

Pike wonders exactly what it would take for this woman to complain about something. He can't help but scoff a little. “If someone with authority brings in another person who is then isolated and leveraged into unwilling compliance – Michael, that's not just abuse of power, it's the working definition of – ”

She stops him with a raised hand. “Your concern is appreciated, Captain, but unnecessary. Anything I said or did to ensure the safety of this ship and crew was both reasonable and necessary.” She offers him back the PADD.

“Maybe you should watch that communication again,” he suggests. “Because, background information aside, what I saw was a captain exchanging the life and safety of a specialist for the life and safety of ship and crew.”

She doesn't hesitate. “A primary function of a senior officer is to ensure the life and safety of ship and crew.” One eyebrow arches in perfect Vulcan emphasis. “I know you know that.”

Okay, she might be even worse to argue with than Spock. It's doubtful he'll win a logic argument with her, so he tries something else. “But you weren't an officer at that time,” he reminds her gently.

She gives him a look that silently berates him.

“I can't have an officer on my bridge with unresolved trauma issues,” he says finally.

She answers levelly, “And you don't. Lorca betrayed this crew at large and several individuals in particular, but your current cause of concern is a non-issue.” After a pause, she adds, “Perhaps further questions should be addressed to Admiral Cornwell.”

Really. That's interesting. Somehow he'd gotten the impression the two women didn't really get along.

Reluctantly he accepts back the PADD. “If you reconsider – ”

“Your concern is noted and appreciated,” she tells him, acceptance nowhere in her voice.

/////

Eventually Pike will get a chance to bring up the situation with Cornwell.

In a completely out of character move, Cornwell will meet his gaze and blankly inform him, “This matter has been resolved. Unless she brings it up first, don't talk to Burnham about it again.”

His concerns are silenced, but certainly not resolved.

/////

Around a month after her arrival on _Discovery_ – after she's accepted the bridge position, after she's been accepted by most of the crew, after Ash has made it clear he's interested in being something other than friends, after Tilly has declared she's Michael's “best friend” –

Captain Lorca is in the corridor outside her quarters. He smiles as she walks towards him, her twice daily run completed. “Burnham,” he greets her, “glad I caught you. There are a few things I'd like to get your opinion on. Join me in my quarters?”

It's an unorthodox and vaguely inappropriate request. They aren't friends – he's the captain. But the invitation is proof that he values her opinion, that he trusts her. And she's both pleased and grateful.

Humans have different boundaries than Vulcans. It's illogical for her to expect him to conform to cultural norms from those outside his own.

“Of course, sir,” she agrees.

Still, it feels wrong when he briefly sets his hand on her shoulder, then slides it down her arm.

“Excellent,” Lorca says, smiling. “Let's go.”

_Trust and acceptance,_ Michael sternly tells herself. That's all it is.

Others might not understand. She's not going to tell Tilly or Ash about this one-time event.

The idea of misinterpreted favoritism would be divisive to the crew.

[end]


End file.
